


Flame Caught In Crystal

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, I have not written fic in AGES, Nonbinary Character, Seriously y'all are going to read a ton of singular they and you're going to LIKE IT, Will be a mix of Legends and New Canon, because I don't care enough to try to separate my Legends and Canon knowledge, or written much of anything really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:08:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21628891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When Poy Me claims a Kyber crystal for their first lightsaber, they also find another crystal. It isn't suited for a lightsaber, but they find its song soothing, so they keep it and make it into a necklace. And as they use it in their meditations, they find its color reflects the changing moral state of the Jedi throughout the Clone Wars in discomforting ways.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	Flame Caught In Crystal

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO welcome to my first fic since I was a teenager! And THAT was just one chapter for a thing I never finished, so even then this is, in fact, my second fic ever.
> 
> This was adopted from [Norcumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/norcumi/pseuds/norcumi) from a title meme on Tumblr! Thank you Norcumi! I hope you and everyone else like Poy because 100 words in I already totally loved them.
> 
> I am New to actually posting on AO3 so I assume I can add tags and stuff later, since I am discovery writing this and WHO KNOWS where we'll go. But my general game plan doesn't involve having any Major Players in Star Wars coming in, except maybe in passing. This is also un-beta'd, first-ISH draft, as I tend to edit a bit as I go along.

Poy Me eased themself carefully through the softly illuminated caverns. The song had led them through progressively smaller and smaller passages, but they had always been small, so they didn’t mind much.

They hadn’t sensed danger, not yet, but they felt it best to be cautious. Based on Master Kiyan’s briefing (they liked to phrase it that way, like they were already a Padawan serving their Master and the Jedi and the Republic in the war), they didn’t need to worry about ambushes or anything. They were alone in the caves. But they remembered how dangerous caves could be even if you were the only one there. It was one of the only vague memories they had of their home on Ryloth, and they had every intention of heeding its warning.

With that memory, they kept themself checked at a cautious pace. Master Kiyan’s warning ringed in their ears - they needed to return before nightfall, the doors to the cave system would freeze over as soon as the sun’s heat left them. But they also remembered the sound of cave-ins, of trapped cries.

They’d need to weigh one danger against the other. It was hard. They remembered the screams. But they’d need to do hard things as a Jedi, wouldn’t they? They would, of course they would. But being trapped by frozen doors would be the same as being trapped by a cave-in. It was cold on Ilum. They might have the gear for a trek through these caves, but they didn’t think it’d last them through a night cold enough to freeze _doors_. Not to mention the doors would _definitely_ freeze over if they didn’t make it back in time, when a cave-in was just a possibility, however terrifying a one it was.

Okay. Okay. They’d have to move along faster. They could feel the song, _their crystal’s song_ , getting closer, but they didn’t think it was actually close. It was so hard to tell. Swallowing their anxiety, their fear ( _fear leads to anger…)_ , they made themself move more quickly through the passageways.

They cast the Force out, the way they had as a child, looking for faults in the stone and crystal around them. They never wanted to ignore warnings like that again. They didn’t remember _who_ had been caught in that fatal cave-in, but they didn’t think it should matter. It was a terrible thing to do nothing when you could have prevented a death. Even if they couldn’t have known, they were just a toddler, even then. It was terrible.

_Breathe in, Poy, breathe out, just like the mind healers taught you. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force._

There is no death, there is the Force. They could do this.

The passages continued to tighten, and soon they had move with a small stoop. Crystals gleamed in the darkness, some larger growths beginning to brush up against their robes as they weaved their way through. Still no sense of any faults, but it was beginning to get late…

The song _was_ getting closer, though. They could hear the notes swelling in their mind. Their heart started beating faster, as they did their best to keep their concentration in their growing excitement. _Their crystal!_

And then they were upon it. It was a part of a pillar of crystals, reaching up to the ceiling of the passage. It stretched out and _sang_ to them.

They reached out to take it, and felt a burst of terror that this was a keystone of sorts to the pillar. Was that something that could happen? They weren’t sure. There weren’t these sorts of things on Ryloth, even if they had more than vague childhood memories to inform them on crystal pillar dangers. They reached out with the Force this time, looking for faults, and didn’t find any. Still, the fear ( _fear leads to anger…_ ) kept nagging at them.

They breathed in. They breathed out. They couldn’t let this stop them. Not when they were so close to being a Padawan, to being a _Jedi_. It was all they ever wanted. They moved themself alongside their crystal, facing the way they had come. Ready to bolt at a moment’s notice.

They grabbed hold of their crystal, and it snapped off without resistance into their hand. Like it was waiting for them. They stood frozen, the Force extended as much as they could manage. Nothing was happening. They let out a shaky laugh. Was it that easy? Maybe it was.

They still needed to get back to the entrance, though. They placed their crystal tenderly inside a pouch just for that purpose, and another, smaller crystal fell in with it. They looked up at the ceiling in confusion, to see where it had fallen from, but there were no crystals there. Had it come off when they had taken her crystal? They hadn’t felt anything more.

It was strange, but they didn’t think it was necessarily a _bad_ weird thing to happen. Extra crystals sounded good to them. They could ask Master Kiyan about it, and if for some reason they were wrong and they were only allowed to take one crystal they could simply leave it.

That settled it. Now it was time to head back to the entrance, and hope they weren’t too late and the doors weren’t frozen over. They shifted their weight back and forth, debating with themself, and decided running would have to be worth the risk of a cave-in. They had taken too long to get here. They weren’t sure what time it was (no chronos, part of the test), but the Force hummed with urgency. They shook out a leg, trying to banish the lingering sounds of cries from her childhood, and broke out into a run.

They turned a corner, breathing hard, and saw the doors. They weren’t frozen shut, were they? _Please, please don’t be frozen._ Master Kiyan would be waiting outside, so they didn’t even have that increasingly comforting form waiting for them. But then, they also didn’t have the _absence_ of that increasingly comforting form spelling instant doom. They weren’t sure which they preferred.

They skidded to a halt in front of the doors, trying not to just slam into them. Though that’d be one way to find out if they were frozen over. _I don’t see any ice…_

They pushed, and they slid open easily. They almost collapsed with relief. It was beginning to get dark, but not yet dangerously so. _Oh, Force_.

They were bent over double, hands on their knees and breathing hard, so they felt rather than saw Master Kiyan approaching them.

“Poy! We were beginning to worry. I hope you were successful?” They looked up into the middle-aged Master’s kindly face, and broke out into a wide grin. Still breathing too hard to talk, they took their crystal out of the pouch and held it out for the Master.

She took it, and let them continue catching their breath. “Ah, what a lovely specimen! I’m very glad for you, Poy. Come now, you can tell me all about it on the ship. It’s cold, and you’ve clearly had quite a run!”

Poy started to nod, and then remembered the other crystal. Straightening, they pulled out the second, smaller crystal. “M-master, that’s not all. This fell into the pouch when I was putting the first one in. I don’t know where it came from.”

Master Kiyan took it from them, turning it in her hand. “Well, that’s certainly interesting. You didn’t see where it came from? Not from where you got your crystal?”

Poy shrugged. “No, Master, it looked like it fell from the ceiling, but there were no crystals growing there.” They hesitated, but knew they needed to ask. “Do… do I need to leave it behind?”

Master Kiyan barked out a short laugh. “Oh, of course not, child! There’s no rules about how many crystals you may come out with. Certainly, some Jedi need more than one lightsaber crystal. But this fine in any case. I think the Force meant for you to have it, and have it you shall. It’s too small to be used in a lightsaber, but perhaps it’d make a nice necklace.” Her voice drifted into a more teacherly tone as she continued, “And kybers make lovely meditation tools, besides. They’re very good focuses, especially for younger, less trained Jedi - but oh!” She shook her head. “My dear, you mustn’t let me go off like that in situations like this. You poor thing, you must be freezing. Come, let us return to the ship. You’ll have plenty of time to hear me rattle on and on about some subject or another in the years to come.”

Poy followed Master Kiyan back to the ship in a haze. Did that mean, did that mean that she _wanted_ —

Yes, it had to. Poy was going to be Master Kiyan’s _Padawan_.


End file.
